Vehicle suspension systems often include springs to support a portion of a vehicle, enable all of the vehicle wheels to maintain contact with the ground when travelling over uneven terrain, and isolate occupants of the vehicle from transmission of forces as a result of travel over the uneven terrain. When a vehicle turns, it is known that centrifugal forces acting on the wheel tend to cause the spring supported portion of the vehicle to roll, redistributing weight of the vehicle away from one or more of the vehicle's wheels. This redistribution may cause instability and may impede the ability of a driver to control the vehicle. Stabilizer bars or control devices interconnecting two wheels of the vehicle are used to resist the vehicle's tendency to roll in response to centrifugal forces.
Stabilizer bars reduce roll, however, a known drawback of using a stabilizer bar is that shock is transmitted from one wheel to another. For example, if a vehicle wheel were to strike a bump, that upward force would then be “copied” or imparted through the stabilizer bar to the opposite wheel, causing the opposite wheel to move in an upward direction. This “cross-talk” (i.e. jounce) between the vehicle wheels is undesirable, as it adversely affects vehicle ride.
In tuning the ride and handling of a vehicle, it is often desirable to soften or lower the spring rate of the suspension spring's to provide a softer, less harsh ride. Lowering the spring rate, however, permits the vehicle body to roll at a relatively higher rate. Accordingly, it would seem that the combination of springs with a very low spring rate and a relatively stiff stabilizer bar would optimize both the ride and handling of the vehicle.
Actively actuated, halved stabilizer bars or control systems are intended to provide the benefit of reduction or control of roll in the connected state, and reduction or elimination of “cross-talk” or force transmission between wheels in the disconnected state. A pair of independently mounted stabilizer bar halves that can be selectively de-coupled from one another are known, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 7,837,202 (hereinafter referred to as the '202 patent) and U.S. Pat. No. 7,909,339 (hereinafter referred to as the '339 patent).